shapez 2: Cut, Rotate and Stack Shapes, Then Fix the Bottleneck

Separate cutting, building orientation and shape rotation

Half Destroyer removes one half of a shape. Cutter outputs the two halves separately. If this exercise needs only one half, Half Destroyer avoids having to route an unwanted second output. If you do need both halves, give both Cutter outputs a route onward.

Rotating a building changes its placement and ports, not which halves it separates: it still divides the shape into east and west halves. To change which quadrants a part occupies, process the part through a Rotator. The basic Rotator turns an ordinary shape 90 degrees clockwise.

The camera can make left and right look different. Here, right and left describe the shape with north at the top. Inspect the shape after processing instead of deciding from the direction the machine appears to face. Distinguishing those two kinds of rotation prevents rebuilding a correctly connected cutter for the wrong reason.

Exercise: make one layer from a circle and square

Use ordinary one-layer inputs in the same color so that the lesson is about occupied positions. When making a real delivery shape, substitute the parts and colors required by that task. A successful practice shape does not count toward a different delivery target.

1. Supply a one-layer circle and a one-layer square on separate lines.
2. Send the circle through Half Destroyer. Inspect the remaining half and rotate it if necessary until it occupies the right half.
3. Process the square in the same way, but make it occupy the left half. Two 90-degree turns can change a right half into a left half.
4. Before joining the lines, confirm that both parts have one layer and occupy complementary halves. Fix orientation here rather than changing the Stacker.
5. Connect the two lines to separate Stacker inputs. Because the parts do not overlap, they combine into a single layer with circle on the right and square on the left.
6. Inspect the output’s component shapes, color and layer count. Let several matching outputs pass before expanding the line.

If it has two layers, inspect the inputs first

Check whether both inputs are accidentally the right half. If their occupied positions overlap, the upper part cannot drop all the way into the lower layer. Compare the empty quadrants on both inputs; they should complement one another for this exercise.

As a comparison, feeding an uncut circle and an uncut square gives a two-layer result. The shape from the upper-layer input rests on the shape from the lower-layer input. That is useful when a task needs an ordered stack, but it is not the same target as joining two halves within one layer.

Read the Stacker’s input indicators to identify which shape goes above the other. Do not memorize “the screen’s left input is always the upper shape”: the building and camera can be rotated. If the problem is a wrong layer order, check which input supplies each layer; if it is overlapping halves, fix the shapes before they arrive.

Trace a stopped line from its output

First separate “wrong shape” from “nothing moves.” A full output path can stop an otherwise correct machine, while a Stacker with a missing input can wait even when both shapes are correct. Inspect one small part of the line at a time.

1. Check that the processed output has a continuous path onward and that its destination can accept it.
2. Follow each Stacker input upstream to confirm that both parts actually arrive.
3. If using Cutter, inspect its unused output for a blockage; if only one half is required, consider Half Destroyer.
4. Look for a different shape mixed into an input line. Trace the first wrong part back through the preceding machine.
5. After clearing or correcting a section, watch the flow before changing the next one.

Fix the limiting step before copying the factory

Once every output is correct, inspect where the supply becomes intermittent. A Stacker fed steadily on one side and rarely on the other is limited by the slower ingredient; adding machines only to the well-supplied side does not address that shortage. If both inputs arrive but the output backs up, inspect the downstream path first.

Read the current building information to determine how many machines can handle one belt at full flow. Do not assume one machine can consume an entire belt, or copy a fixed count from a guide for another version. Use the same units when comparing processing rates, and make sure you are inspecting the same building variant.

Duplicate only a small working stage, reconnect it, and check its outputs again. If the new stage contains an orientation error, copying it across the whole factory multiplies the fault. Before expanding, check that the correct shape repeats. After expanding, check that it flows steadily.

Keep shape correctness and flow as separate checks

For an unwanted extra layer, compare the occupied quadrants before the Stacker. For a stopped line, inspect outputs and both ingredient paths. For low production, find the limiting stage and read the current machine information. Change one cause at a time so that you can tell which correction worked.

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